Industry 4.0 is the fourth industrial revolution that will take the manufacturing industry by storm. It is a form of radical and disruptive innovation that will see an enormous opportunity for the manufacturing industry.

Environmental stress cracking (ESC) is the development of cracks and eventual catastrophic failure due to a combination of mechanical stress (from external loading or from moulding strain) and exposure to an ‘aggressive’ chemical (a ‘near solvent’ for the thermoplastic material).

Environmental stress cracking (ESC) is not the result of the continual battle that the plastics industry has in convincing environmentalists and politicians that plastics can be the solution to environmental problems and not the cause.